The Devil’s Foot & SS4 Ep2

inevitably-johnlocked:

sussexbound:

I was rather excited to see the possible beach location for SS4 Ep2, as @welovethebeekeeper, mentioned, it is very reminiscent of the story “The Adventure of The Devil’s Foot”.  The location immediately made me think of the Granada Holmes episode of said story.  

This story is interesting, because it begins with Holmes and Watson heading out to the seaside for a holiday (where they rent a lovely seaside cottage, just the two of them).  They are doing this because Holmes is on the brink of complete collapse, and has been ordered by London doctors to take a break to restore his health.  There is a very subtle suggestion by Watson, that the cause of this breakdown was a combination of Holmes overtaxing himself with work, not taking care of himself, and over indulging in drugs.  

This would fit in well with what we saw in TAB, as well as what we’ve seen so far for SS4 Ep1.  I suspect that Sherlock (and possibly also John) is going to be taxed to his psychological limits in this first episode.  We already know that he had been indulging in his drug habit throughout HLV and TAB.  It’s likely that if he is trying to back off from that use again in SS4 Ep1, he’s feeling the effects of that.

It’s also interesting to note that in the Granada Holmes version of this episode, as @welovethebeekeeper, also mentioned, there is a lovely scene of Holmes burying his drugs in the sand, as a symbol of Holmes giving them up entirely.  And given what you see between Holmes and Watson in this episode, I always walked away with the impression that Holmes choice to turn his back on the drugs was as much due to his affection for Watson as it was for his own benefit. Watson expresses his concerns over Holmes health a great deal throughout the story.

Finally, this story contains one of the most lovely references to Holmes love for Watson in the canon.  I would put this scene on par with Three Garridebs, if not above it.  And it was beautifully done in the Granada Holmes version.  

Keep reading

Ohhh this is good. Especially that line about “who knows what I would do”; this could foreshadow the garridebs in E3 if it hadn’t happened already!

I love this entire meta. Thank you! I forgot how much I loved this episode of Granada :)

Oh, I would dearly love to see this.